This is Friendship
by grasper
Summary: A oneshot detailing a single morning L and Light spend together. Back and forth, cat and mouse conversation entails. Rated T for language.


Disclaimer: Death Note not mine.

This is a long drabble snapshot of what I imagine L and Light's interactions were like. I would say that this conversation takes place a few days before Misa Amane is arrested and follows DN canon. I wrote this a pretty long time ago and only recently decided to upload it. Enjoy.

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It was five thirty in the morning and L was already awake with his usual cup of Earl Grey tea with seven sugar cubes in his left hand and a fork in his right ready to dig into the plate of strawberry cheesecake on the table in front of him. The sun was beginning to rise outside bringing light and warmth into the frigid Tokyo morning. L, however, was unaware of this because he was sitting on a chair in a dark room with the curtains firmly drawn in front of his computer scanning the local and international news while taking the occasional bite of cheesecake for any reports on Kira's latest victims. He was so engrossed in this task that when he heard a knock on the door, he looked up startled.

_That couldn't be Watari since I asked him to fetch me an autopsy report and the conclusions of the forensics team just ten minutes ago. Someone from the investigation team?_ He switched off the computer monitor, got up from his chair and reluctantly shuffled across the room. He looked through the eye piece and was faintly surprised. _Light Yagami? What is he doing here so early?_

L opened the door and Light stepped into the hotel room.

"Hey Ryuuzaki," he said with a friendly smile. "Why is it so dark in here all the time?"

L did not give any indication that he heard the teen's question. He was simply not interested in engaging in mundane conversation. In fact, he hated it more than anything—well except for perhaps how elusive Kira had proven to be. He had expected something more intelligent to come out of Light's mouth and was actually feeling something close to disappointment. He closed the door quietly and walked over to his desk with his back to Light.

Light followed the detective's slouching form with his eyes and felt a slight twinge of annoyance gradually build up with every passing second that L did not respond. If there was one thing he hated, it was being ignored and L had deliberately snubbed him, testing his patience.

"Ryuuzaki? Are you okay?" Light pressed.

L picked up his tea and then seated himself on the couch in the middle of the room. L was sorely tempted to continue ignoring the teen just to observe his reaction but not even he wanted to start an argument between the two of them this early in the morning. He did note that Light seemed to be slightly irked. _Fitting. Kira has to be the center of attention otherwise he mopes childishly. _Satisfied with that nugget of information to add to his mental database on Light/Kira, L made himself fully comfortable in his chair before he bothered to respond.

"To someone of Light-kun's caliber of intelligence I assumed the answer would be obvious. The darkness serves a dual purpose. On the ten percent chance that Kira may already know my location I will certainly not reveal my face by opening the curtains after all the precautions I have arranged."

Light wanted to laugh. Even at the crack of dawn L was still as paranoid as ever but the teen had to acknowledge that this was not entirely unreasonable. After all Kira did know where L was and who he was…it was only a matter of his name now._ L do you even know how fragile your life is? Your last defense is only a few letters…A few letters and its all over for you. _Light smirked at that thought internally. Outwardly, however, it translated into a friendly smile. "I see. What's the other purpose?"

L lifted a single finger to his pale lips and with the corners of his lips tugging upwards ever so slightly said, "Dark is simply my preference Light-kun."

Light just shook his head at the ridiculous seemingly endless puns that the detective kept coming up with.

"Now it is my turn to ask questions." L abruptly changed the topic. "Why is Light-kun here so early?" he asked in an almost accusatory tone.

If Light were more juvenile he would have rolled his eyes. "It's nice to see you too Ryuuzaki by the way. I'm here because I left my textbook for my Criminology course here by accident last night. I need that textbook for class in two hours."

"Ah. I was wondering what that book on the couch was." L waved vaguely at a thick book that was on the couch opposite him. "Light-kun actually requires the text to excel in this class?" he asked slightly incredulously.

"Not really," Light said with a smug look on his handsome face, "but I like feeling prepared for class." _It also has the secondary benefit of intimidating the other students._ Light kept that latter thought to himself. He was not in the mood to listen about his percentages.

"I see." L turned his attention to his tea and took a loud sip of the beverage from the cup.

Light cleared his throat and began making up an excuse to leave when he was interrupted.

"Would Light-kun like to sit down and have a cup of coffee? You still have quite some time before your class."

Light frowned ever so slightly. _Just what I needed. Breakfast and another round of twenty questions with L. He just never stops does he? I have to get rid of him before he becomes an even bigger liability than Misa and Rem._

"How does that sound Light-kun?"

Light snapped himself out of his thoughts. "Yes? Oh, yeah… I'll stay for a few minutes thanks Ryuuzaki." He smiled brightly, falsely. L stared blankly without returning a smile. He pointed his index finger directing Light to the general vicinity of the coffee. Light walked over to the table on top of which, organized in a neat row, was instant coffee, packets of tea, hot water and of course, a giant crystal bowl of L's favorite sugar cubes.

Light ignored the sugar and poured himself a cup of black coffee and sat down on the couch. He lifted the cup to his mouth and glanced at the detective sitting across from him. Light always liked to engage in five minutes of harmless narcissism by comparing himself to L. He had to stifle a small laugh when he thought about how differently the world must perceive him and the detective.

Ryuuzaki's appearance was almost comical. He looked as though he had not slept in days what with the dark circles under his eyes and in the darkness his pale skin positively gave off a vampiric aura, though of course he was far from being as attractive as the vampires in the ridiculous shojo mangas his sister, Sayu, was so fond of. L's hair was a complete train wreck, as always, and desperately needed a thorough brushing. His frame was frail looking and the poor manner in which he carried himself gave him the distinct look of someone who was very ill. And he had not even touched on the subject of Ryuuzaki's eyes. The irises were dark, hollow, and almost impossible to look away from but for all the wrong reasons. Ryuuzaki stared. Sometimes blankly, other times hungrily, but always in a manner that made the skin on one's neck crawl. Compared to Ryuuzaki, hell compared to anyone, Light was simply the epitome of perfection with his striking good looks and sharp intelligence.

It was then that Light realized those same creepy eyes were studying Light's face and while Light was slightly unnerved, he still refused to break eye contact first. In the end it was Ryuuzaki who terminated their pointless game by getting up to get another concoction of seventy percent sugar, thirty percent Earl Grey tea. Light winced subconsciously at the thought of the daily assault L's teeth received from all the junk the detective insisted on consuming.

L settled back onto the chair opposite Light and made himself comfortable by adopting his standard detective reasoning pose.

"Light-kun can I ask you a question?"

_And it starts…_"Sure," Light responded. "It's not like if I said no it would stop you from asking anyway Ryuuzaki."

L smiled slightly at that. "You're right. Sharp as always Light-kun." He took a sip of tea and then asked, "What do you honestly think about Kira?"

Light joked playfully. "Kira again Ryuuzaki? God you don't stop thinking about Kira do you? I mean it's only around five forty in the morning and already your mind is fixated."

L responded with a deadpan expression. "Perhaps. Humor me Light-kun." His calm, yet forceful tone suggested that he was not going to accept anything less than an answer to the question.

Light sighed. L's thinking was just too transparent; this was going to be another pointless test of Ryuuzaki's design to determine his favorite numbers: the goddamn percentages.

_Damn it L you're always putting me on the spot. Sorry, but I'm not stupid enough to answer your question candidly. If I appear sympathetic to Kira's cause, I'm going to appear suspicious but on the other hand, if I denounce Kira outright, you will suspect me anyway because its logical that that is what Kira would do in this situation and if I take too long to answer this question that's also grounds for suspicion! In this situation the best thing to do is answer the question as vaguely as possible while still appearing to answer it._

Light gave himself precisely five seconds to formulate a response. Five seconds was a safe margin of time. Any sooner and the teen would not come up with a completely satisfactory answer and any longer and it would seem he was strangely hesitant to talk about Kira_._ A small part of Light wondered if perhaps he was over thinking, overanalyzing every situation_. _But Light was not wrong to be concerned for all this time L's eyes never left Light's face. His dark eyes were scrutinizing every detail of Light's expressions, his subconscious gestures. _With someone as detail oriented as Ryuuzaki there's no such thing as over thinking anything. _Light thought to himself.

So precisely five ticks of the second hand on his watch later, Light spoke with an artificial levity injected in his voice. "Well…I suppose it is easy enough understand Kira's motives. I can follow the ideology as to why he or she would target criminals to make the world a better place. However, he or she is doing so extremely unconventionally without any consideration for social standards of ethicality."

"Two things are interesting about your analysis Light-kun." (_Two things? _Light wanted to throttle the detective for his perceptiveness and tendency to dissect every small statement.)

"First, up till now our investigation has operated under a gender blind profile of Kira. Despite this, if anyone in this squad were to guess at Kira's gender, they would state male. You however mentioned both genders specifically. Any reason why?" _Besides the obvious reason that you don't want me to assume that you have special knowledge of Kira's identity _thought the detective silently.

Light merely glared to himself. It was just like L to take an innocent statement like "he or she" and turn it into something that made him sound like Kira.

"Well considering that this new Kira sent a hidden message in which they describe meeting outings with friends in various popular shopping districts which seems to me a distinctly female activity, I thought it would be prudent to modify our current understanding of Kira. Of course, my suppositions are meaningless if this new Kira is purposely trying to confuse the investigation by appearing feminine."

L paused for a second to digest Light's statement in his head. _The phrase 'he or she' is relatively common most people have no justification for its usage other than to emphasize their uncertainty. Light-kun's response was far too well rationalized. It was almost as though he was anticipating that question… _"Eight percent." the detective said finally.

Light just stared incredulously at L in response. _I can't believe this. It's not even 6 AM and my percentages are increasing already? _He started angrily, "Ryuuzaki that's not fair…" L however interrupted Light before the teen could finish his statement.

"The second piece of your analysis that I found interesting was your understanding of Kira's motive. Do you think that 'making the world a better place' is all that motivates Kira? You think that Kira acting purely out of altruism?"

"I hardly think anyone is purely altruistic Ryuuzaki."

"Another brilliant observation Light-kun."

Light noted the heavy sarcasm in L's tone and felt the familiar pounding behind his forehead whenever he started to get irritated. _This conversation is getting annoying. I have to divert this topic away from what I think and put L on the defensive. _

"Well, what do you think about Kira then Ryuuzaki?" He asked in a calculatedly casual manner.

L shrugged and put the teacup back on the table. "That would depend entirely on what Kira's motives are."

"Take an educated guess then Ryuuzaki."

"Well…" L said as he contemplated the swirling gold pattern on his teacup, "I would hate to presume that I understand Kira's motivations in their entirety." L fell silent for a moment and then fixed his gaze onto Light's face with an expression of vague entertainment. "Only the people close to Kira would be the most capable of elucidating Kira's thought processes, wouldn't you agree Light-kun?"

Light sighed. "Ryuuzaki, before you even accuse me of anything, I'm not Kira. You know that."

"I don't recall accusing you of anything with my previous statement Light-kun." L replied with a slight frown. "However, now that you have mentioned it, I am currently nine percent certain that you are Kira." He lifted his teacup and blew air gently at the contents. He took a small sip, but apparently he was unhappy with the temperature of the tea for he quickly put the china back on the table.

Then while he held his gaze up at the ceiling, he cleared his throat. "If I were to use your interpretation of Kira's motivations, then Kira is nothing but a naive child playing an adults game. Kira's way of maintaining 'justice' is only temporary and fear based. You can not clean the world with further bloodshed. The violence that is being forcibly suppressed now will continue to fester and grow. The moment Kira is caught it will leak out and wash the world over with evil once again. People will never change. It is simply much easier for people to succumb to their worst instincts than it is to defy human nature. Society itself breeds crime." L paused for a moment and shifted his gaze to look directly at Light. "Something like that would be the expected thing for me to say, no?"

Kira smirked. _Ryuuzaki, you're the fool. Don't you see that Kira has the ability to change human nature entirely? I will gradually eliminate those that are weak and succumb to baser instincts and soon only those who are purely good will remain. Once all evil influences have been uprooted, there will be nothing left to taint my new world. Kira's justice will prevail and I will become God of my Utopia._

Light said none of this however and simply looked at L with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

"Two things Ryuuzaki. First, I am NOT Kira, so just drop the second person talking to me crap when you're referring to him …OR her." Light added as a sarcastic after thought.

L's eyes shimmered with amusement. "A slip of my tongue Light-kun."

Light ignored L and continued. "Secondly I never knew you were this cynical about human nature Ryuuzaki. Could it not just be equally as possible that the essence of human nature is actually good and people are just blinded by social corruption?"

Light angrily watched L as he waited for an answer. L sat hunched over with his thumb placed delicately on his lower lip. His brow was furrowed in silent contemplation.

_You are too intelligent to be this naive Light-kun. When you see what I have seen perhaps you will understand. The potential for evil lies even in the most innocent of civilians. Case after case of unforgivable crimes against humanity will do that to even the most optimistic of individuals. Corruption is latent within us, not an external cause. Surely Kira can not be this much of a simpleton. _

L smiled sheepishly while looking at Light through his curtain of messy hair and said half mockingly, half sincerely, "Light-kun, you are naively optimistic—a quality that I genuinely hope you will not lose when you inevitably work for the NPA. Personally, the cup ceased to be half empty or half full many years ago."

Light caught the slight insult disguised in the compliment but refused to rise to the detective's bait. Light returned his best fake smile. It would have made both females and males alike swoon. Kira too smiled secretly though it would have had the opposite effect. _Now it's my turn Ryuuzaki. I'm going to have fun with this…_

"Ryuuzaki, not to play devil's advocate but doesn't Kira ultimately lessen your workload too? I mean without criminals, you don't have to take any cases. You could have a normal life you know? You could be spending more time outside, socializing, and looking less anemic." Light smirked sardonically before continuing, "Hell you could even have a girlfriend."

L paused briefly before answering. He wore an unusual expression on his face that seemed to indicate that he did not like where the conversation was going. In actuality however, L was fueled. He sensed another game of wits. _Are you trying to direct this conversation Kira? What is your purpose this time? Try as you might you won't learn anything new from me. You even threw in a pathetic jab at my solitary lifestyle which I suppose to you must be an odd choice but it is a small sacrifice to pay to avoid dealing with the mundane and moronic._

L shrugged, "If I were to take Light-kun's advice of 'spending more time outside, socializing and looking less anemic' and the sole outcome of my effort was having a barely cognizant being like Amane-san to call my girlfriend, I would rather keep to my admittedly unusual habits."

Out of instinct Light opened his mouth to fire back a witty retort but for once he actually found himself privately agreeing with the detective. He shuddered. Kira had better not make a habit out of agreeing with he made an attempt at building a rebuttal of Ryuuzaki's attack by mentally sifting through the finer aspects of Misa's character but could not find anything besides her physical beauty (and not to mention her Shinigami eyes) as truly worthy of defending. So instead Light settled for a low blow.

"Misa may not be well versed intellectually per say, but at least she's capable of opening the curtain to let in some light in the morning," he said sarcastically.

To Light's great surprise, L laughed. He had never heard the detective laugh before. Even at the amusing antics of a certain bumbling member of the squad also known as Matsuda. The sound of it was not altogether unpleasant Light decided and may have even had a somewhat infectious quality to it were it not for a slightly bitter note underlying the laugh which Light was thrilled to detect. It pleased Kira to know that his words were slowly beginning to break the detective's mask. Not even the great L was immune. _It's almost a shame L will die before I understand his mind entirely. _Light couldn't help but smile a little bit at the prospect of L's impending death. It wouldn't be unusual to smile considering the circumstances…so he did.

"Touché Light-kun. I suppose Amane-san does enjoy that particular privilege though I do think she would rather spread her legs for Light in the morning. The fact remains that my well founded security measure of keeping the curtains drawn is Kira's fault. For the mean time I must settle for opening the door for Light—which all things considered, is not a terrible compromise."

Light was no prude, but despite himself he could feel his cheeks redden ever so slightly. _Another goddamn pun! A pun with strange sexual undertones nonetheless! _Who knew L's taste in humor leaned towards vulgarity? The sheer absurdity of the situation actually had him wanting to laugh slightly. _Ryuuzaki cracking dirty jokes? That's as likely as Misa winning the Nobel Prize. I didn't know he even had the capacity for humor. _ The tension in the room dissipated slowly.

And then Ryuuzaki ruined it.

"That will all change once I will send Kira to die."

The tension rematerialized. Light frowned. L really knew how to kill a moment of temporary levity. But he nodded in false agreement at the detective's comment.

"Yes. We'll catch Kira. Together." Light was careful to emphasize that last word to create a sense of camaraderie and dissuade anymore of the detective's typical, 'Light is Kira' jibes. _If you can even catch me that is_ he added silently.

Ryuuzaki merely nodded in acknowledgement as he drained the rest of his heavily sugared tea. He then absentmindedly stirred the dregs with his silver spoon clinking the edge of the teacup as he did so. Light felt yet another stab of annoyance. _Why on earth does Ryuuzaki have to hold that spoon in that unsightly way of his? Is he afraid of holding the damn thing properly? _He wanted to ask what the detective had against proper grip but knew better not to. Light could almost see the detective's deadpan expression and hear the accompanying mocking response: _'Holding objects this way increases my deductive reasoning abilities by an additional six percent Light-kun. Incidentally why should anyone but Kira be concerned with my personal habits?' _Light sighed in exasperation.

A vast silence permeated the room which was broken occasionally by a harsh staccato of glass and silver. Clink. Clink. Clink. Light didn't know what was worse at that moment, those damn clinking noises which were starting to make him twitch or the source of the noise itself. The 'source' was currently perched on a chair focusing his gaze at Light's face as though examining the teenager's pores would miraculously present him with the solid evidence he needed to close the case. Itwould be just like L to claim that Light's pores spelled out the word Kira.

L took on the Kira case frankly, because Kira _intrigued_ him. This case promised to be unlike any other case L had taken on before. It was going to be a challenge and L loved challenges. But when he first goaded Kira into revealing his location on television, he had been almost disappointed by Kira's predictability. Predictability always invariably correlated to stupidity and sadly for L that meant that this case was not going to be so difficult after all. In an unprecedented event however, L himself had been humbled. Kira had somehow managed to kill 12 FBI agents under his nose and even sent him a note to gloat. _L do you know Gods of Death love apples?_ L would never forget that message for it taught him not to underestimate Kira's true intellect. L was a fast learner; he would not make that mistake again. For the first time, he had to acknowledge that he had a worthy opponent, which made Kira even more intriguing. He just hadn't quite expected Kira to be so… he didn't even know how to begin describing Light Yagami. He examined the teen's face._ Young, Handsome. Deep. Determined…. Irritated? _He thought with curiosity. _Why is Light-kun irritated?_

He stirred his tea cup, and noticed an unmistakable look of dislike flash in Light's eyes at the sound of the spoon tapping the side of his tea cup. Having learned the source of irritation, L took great (but admittedly childish) gleeful pleasure in making the sound as frequently and as loudly as possible without appearing to do it on purpose._ Why—_clink—_does Kira have to be so—_clink—_god_—clink—_damn intelligent? _

Like Light, L too was growing irritated though he tried not to show it anymore than he already had. The detective was not stupid; he knew he was lacking in various aspects with regards to socialization (which Light had been so quick to point out) and physical appearance, but he knew he had more than made it up with sheer intelligence and brilliance. Anyone who underestimated him had a rude awakening coming. He always outshone other people in mental capacity and humbled some of the most respected minds in the world. Suffice to say L had never been in an intellectual stalemate before. Normally L appreciated the challenge of a difficult case—in fact he adored them. This case however was bordering on torture simply because he had already solved it in his mind. He _knew_ the identity of the perpetrator Kira: it was Light Yagami. Light Yagami was just never left any evidence to prove it. He needed to know how it was Light was killing his victims and he refused to believe it was telepathy, magic, or any other nonsense of that sort.

"You're staring again Ryuuzaki" Light almost snarled bringing L out of his thoughts. The detective wasn't even aware that he had been staring at the teen for an extended period of time. He certainly wasn't doing it consciously.

"Ah." The detective slowly averted his gaze obnoxiously clinking the glass one more time while doing so.

"And," Light continued in an unmistakably angry tone, "IF I didn't know any better Ryuuzaki, I would say that you are deliberately trying to anger me by making that noise."

"I see. I had no idea." L lied through his teeth.

_Damn. I've been found out. _He regretfully placed the teacup on the table in front of him. He actually felt a little bit like pouting; it had been a very fun game while it lasted. Instead he removed a caramel he had in his pocket. He unwrapped it and popped the soft candy into his mouth. _Sugar. _The detective found himself relaxing and started chewing the soft caramel appreciatively.

Not for the first time that morning Light wanted to punch the detective. His horrible table manners alone almost drove the perfectionist teen to a new level of aggravation. Besides that Light hated receiving one word answers. If he ever gave the Ryuuzaki one word answers to his questions Light would have hell to pay. Light forced himself to calm down. _It does me no good to be angry at Ryuuzaki. If he were to die now people would be take this argument into consideration, no doubt that L has this all on tape._

Now the only sounds in the room were of Ryuuzaki's loud chewing noises and subsequent swallowing. To end the unbearable silence that had fallen upon the pair (and also to prevent another acoustic assault on Light's ears) Light attempted to start another conversation.

"But honestly, I'm curious Ryuuzaki, what do you think Kira's motives are?" Light inquired in a polite tone that masked the genuine interest he had in the topic.

L narrowed his eyes trying to figure out why Light had brought up this particular topic again after having tried to not talk about subject of Kira. He lifted a finger to his bottom lip and bit it in silent contemplation.

"Light-kun, you said it yourself. No one is purely altruistic, especially not Kira. Kira imagines himself to be the protector and savior of the masses who are too weak to protect themselves. He believes he is a shining beacon of hope in a depraved and cold modernity to the innocent who choose to accept his grace."

(Here Kira couldn't help but gloat secretly in self-satisfaction at Ryuuzaki's description. L caught the self absorbed glint in Light's eyes and thought _ten percent_ to himself quietly). He observed Light's face, specifically his eyes, closely as he continued speaking.

"However, the truth is Kira is nothing but an egotistical maniac. By choosing and striking down those deemed worthy or unworthy to live in his new world, Kira imagines himself as a god who is re-forging the very foundations of society. However, god would never do something as stupid as try to create perfection in an inherently imperfect world and therefore Kira is not a god but simply an idealistic childish fool."

L caught the momentary spark of fury in Light's eyes and felt a sense of satisfaction at being able to toy with Kira's pride.

He continued on. "I will not permit in good consciousness such a being to do as he wills freely. But as to your earlier statement I must admit you are right Light-kun. I suppose that the number of criminals would decline and my free time would increase exponentially."

"Then why chase after Kira? You may as well let Kira kill off the criminals you would have to catch anyway." Light blurted out without thinking.

L cut in sharply. "That is a very irresponsible view to have Light-kun. If you truly believe what you just said, you are a bigger fool than I imagined you to be."

And just like that, L managed to insult and place Light back on the defensive. L couldn't help smiling to himself. _Your move, Light-kun._

Light flushed angrily. He did not take kindly to being called a fool by Ryuuzaki._ Damn it. Now I'm back on the defense. _"That's not fair Ryuuzaki. I told you I was playing devil's advocate. Of course Kira has to be caught. Murder is murder regardless of the identity of the victims."

"Indeed. Kira really is rather thoughtless, Light-kun."

_If you're going to attack my pride, we'll see how you like this one Ryuuzaki. _

Light smiled innocently. "So catching Kira must be a matter of personal pride to you. Well answer this then Ryuuzaki. How are you any different from Kira? On what moral ground do you claim to stand above Kira? What makes you more righteous than Kira to pursue him and claim the side of justice when you are both fundamentally after a common goal? You are both the same."

L turned around quickly but not before Light caught a glimpse of L's face. For a second, he wore a look of unmistakable anger on his usually blank mask and for that Light was perversely ecstatic. The look on L's face was priceless. Light had to fight to contain his laughter; he had not expected L to react so unrestrainedly. _Heh, so it appears even the great L has feelings after all. You're a fool for reacting like this. Your reaction right now is more valuable to me than anything else you could have given me before you died. Now I know how to get to you L. But then again, now that I'm going to make Rem kill you, your real name is insignificant to me though I promise I will take good care of your title L._

Whatever direction L was expecting the conversation to take it was not this one. He stood up immediately and turned around because it took all the control he had to stop himself from smashing the smile off of Light's face with his foot.

L turned around to face Light again. Light wore the traces of a smug smile on his face but, to L's pleasure, was wiped away almost instantly when Light looked at L's face. L grabbed Light by the shirt and roughly pulled Light up to his feet ripping a seam in Light's immaculate shirt in the process. L grabbed both of Light's arms and pinned him against the wall. The detective's spindly frame that Light had silently mocked was clearly much more powerful than it looked. Ryuuzaki's face steeled and for once Light was able to glimpse at why L was called the greatest detective in the world. The usual blank (stupid as Light thought of it) expression on L's face disappeared and was replaced with an intensely powerful aura that made L virtually unrecognizable. His usually hunched over frame was now perfectly straight and the effect of that simple change in posture was almost alarming. L was tall…as tall as Light. He leaned in closer to Light's face so that there was barely any space between the two men.

"Yagami-kun," L's voice was eerily calm in stark contrast to the unmistakable emotion in his eyes. "I have taken on countless cases of unimaginable evil. I have done all in my power to track those responsible and made them answer for their crimes. In that sense Kira and I may be alike but I do not and will never indiscriminately judge and kill those I deem unfit to live because even filth deserves a chance at redemption through the law. That is what sets me apart from the likes of scum like Kira. When I took on this case, I promised myself and Kira that I would catch him and send him to die. I will NOT be deterred from this goal by some stupid child who thinks he knows what justice is. I will catch Kira. You sealed your fate when you killed Lind. L Taylor."

L released the front of Light's shirt and walked several steps away from the teen. He took several deep breaths. L's head was spinning; he had not lost control of his emotions like this in years. _Damn. I misread him. The purpose of that game wasn't to gain information…it was to push my limits and I fell for it. I'll get you for this Yagami-kun. _

L didn't know exactly how much time passed before he finally felt free from the epinephrine coursing in his blood but when at last he felt his heart rate go down, he calmly walked over to his seat by the main computer and switched on the monitor. About ten minutes later he heard a small shuffling noise. Light was gently putting his empty coffee cup in the sink. L tracked Light's movements by watching his reflection on the computer screen. Light never turned his face towards L and instead walked swiftly over to the door holding the damn textbook in his left hand. He opened the door quietly and left the room leaving L alone in the darkness.

L never saw the contented smirk playing on Light's lips as the teen struggled to contain the laughter that was dying to come out. Unbeknownst to Light however, an equal smirk was playing across L's lips. L, of course, believed nothing he had just fought so passionately for. He just wanted to know how Light would react.

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I hope you enjoyed. Read and Review as always~


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